Frozen Inside
by engineergirl86
Summary: A Jelsa fic set during Frozen in which Jack goes to the Ice Palace to help Elsa, and she is finally able to see him because she has let it go and opened up to the magic, but evil lurks in dark places to destroy what could become more than just a friendship.


**Welcome! I have recently become obsessed with Jelsa, so naturally my muse wouldn't shut up until I wrote something. Having said that, I want to point out a few things that may confuse you in the reading. My story is set during Frozen right after Elsa has made "Marshmallow" to chase Anna and the others away. I did a bit of research and ultimately decided that this was set in the mid-1800s. Rise of the Guardians is set in modern times (Captain Obvious speaking). I called it 2012, because of the release date of the movie, meaning that Jack got his powers in 1712. The 300 years thing doesn't really work, so for my story, the plot of Rise of the Guardians happened in 1840. I know that changes some things, but the plot still works. The children believed in and saw Jack just the same, and he became a Guardian. So he was alone for 128 years rather than the 300, but that is still a really long time. Also, according to Disney, Elsa was eight when she struck Anna with her powers the first time. She is 21 at the time of her coronation, so she is 21 in my story, and Anna is 18 if you are interested. If you have any other questions after reading, please ask in a review, and I will be glad to further explain my story setting to you. **

**Disclaimer: Frozen and all characters within are owned by Disney. Rise of the Guardians and all characters within are owned by DreamWorks. **

* * *

-o-oOo-o-

**Frozen Inside**

_Chapter 1_

-o-oOo-o-

"_Frozen inside without your touch, without your love darling. Only you are the life among the dead. All this time, I can't believe I couldn't see, kept in the dark, but you were there in front of me. I've been sleeping a thousand years it seems, got to open my eyes to everything."_

_-Evanescence _"Bring Me to Life"

* * *

The year was 1845, and a fierce Northern wind blew through the streets of Almora, the capital city of the Sothern Isles, a chain of islands nestled between the Baltic Sea and Gulf of Finland. A woman wrapped her shawl tighter around her shoulders and crossed her arms.

"Strange weather we've been having."

"Indeed," agreed her husband who walked beside her in the busy street. It was summer time, but never in his life had he experienced such cold weather and bitter winds out of the north. In truth, if it were to snow he wouldn't be surprised at this point.

The people of the town were wrapped in their winter clothing and there was talk of concern for the loss of crops and livestock. Never before had such a situation occurred.

Yet, a more peculiar sight, though it remained unseen, was occurring not 50 feet above the bustling street. A tall boy with shaggy white hair, and eyes as blue as the sea flew through the air, as if surfing the wind, a hooked staff in his right hand.

The boy, Jack, had been far south of the equator enjoying the spoils of his most favored time of the year. He brought snow to towns for children to play in and covered little dwellings in frost. That was the best part of being a spirit in his opinion, the freedom to travel where he wanted, when he wanted. He harbored a special love for high mountains as they were snowcapped throughout the year. He absolutely abhorred the heat. For this reason, he had been spending most of his time recently in the southern hemisphere. Crossing the equator had been torturous, as it always was, but he knew he must, or else, how could his curiosity be sated? About twelve hours ago he had felt a very strong magical winter force coming from the far north. And as far as Jack was aware, it wasn't Sandy, Bunny, Tooth or North, so that only left one possibility.

About thirteen years ago he had become familiar with a child in Arendelle having magical winter powers. He had sensed it, much like what he felt about twelve hours ago. Only now it was much stronger. She was always so sad; confining herself to her room and concealing her powers. He had tried on multiple occasions to cheer her up, but it usually resulted in causing her to think she had lost control of her powers when he would draw with frost on her window, or leave ice sickles in intricate designs. Part of him had hoped she would be able to see him, what with her magical abilities and all. She was so lonely; he knew all too well what that felt like. He wanted so much to cheer her up and fill her life with the fun and happiness childhood was supposed to bring, but how could he? For she loathed the ice and snow they both controlled, and he was invisible to her. What other ploy did he have? Still he would visit the child once or twice a year, curious about her wellbeing. Well, at least, until three years ago. Something horrible had happened in her life, and he had dwelled outside her window in deep depression for three weeks as the, then young woman, continuously cried and failed to control her icy powers. It had taken only a few days to finally overhear someone. Her parents had died. He was determined to cheer her up, and would often work to clean up the mess she made in her room; it wasn't easy or natural for him to rid an area of snow and ice, but he did it for her; because it was the last thing she needed at that point. After about three weeks' time, she had regained control over her powers, but the sadness and depression hung. Jack had left. He wanted more than anything to help her, but he couldn't figure out how, and he hadn't returned since. He felt more like the guardian of snow and ice than of fun, for that was all he could offer her.

-o-oOo-o-

Elsa retreated to the back of her ice palace, breathing deeply. She collapsed to her knees and tried to calm herself. _What had she done?_ Arendelle was under a layer of deep snow, but worse she had stricken Anna with her powers yet again. How could she be so foolish as to believe she could let it go? How childish, she scolded herself repetitively. Her father was right. She couldn't afford to be herself. But now, _now_ it was too late. In her fear she had sent a horrible snow monster after Anna and her companions. Elsa hoped her creation wouldn't hurt her sister; she hoped it would only do its intended duties and force them to go away so she couldn't hurt them anymore.

She truly was an ice queen, and there was no turning back now. She would accept who she was, yes, but she would live in absolute isolation, so that no one could be harmed by her powers. Elsa rose to her feet. The first thing she would do is repair the damage to her ice palace that the creation of the snow monster caused. A shiver shot up her spine, no not from the cold, but from the fact that _she _had created a monster to scare Anna away. How could she do such a thing? And there it was again. The self-loathing and depression she had felt for the duration of her life since that fateful incident thirteen years ago. As she made repairs she heard a sound coming from the bottom of the palace at the front door. She hoped Anna hadn't returned; maybe it was the snow monster. That idea didn't seem pleasant either though. She steeled herself and began down the staircase to investigate. For isolation, there sure was a lot of company at the North Mountain.

-o-oOo-o-

Jack arrived in Arendelle, and with the weather getting progressively worse the further north he flew, he was hardly surprised to see the port frozen and the city covered in snow. But, the city wasn't what he was interested in. He first went directly to the window of Elsa's room, but when he realized she wasn't there, it was back to his usual tactic of gleaning information. He flew above the small village listening to the conversations of the people in the streets. Despite the conditions, many people were out. Seemingly due to the state of panic the village was experiencing. Within half an hour he had learned that Elsa, now queen, had frozen the town after her coronation and fled to the North Mountain.

-o-oOo-o-

Jack landed on the stairs in front of the ice palace. The door was open so he casually strolled in, admiring the infrastructure made completely of ice.

"Wow, some palace."

Elsa heard a masculine voice and raised her guard, _so it isn't Anna or the_ _monster_. Could it be the man Anna was with? She took a deep breath. No reason to be so uptight; she wasn't about to lose her cool again. She calmly began to stroll down the stairs.

Jack wondered around in the foyer taking in the sights. "It's . . ." and that is when he saw her gracefully walking down the stairs, as if gliding, and she certainly wasn't child he remembered. Jack's eyes were immediately drawn to her hips, the way they swayed as she walked in that tight dress. He found it difficult to pull his eyes away, but slowly his eyes traveled up to her tiny waist, then on up to her breasts, over her graceful collarbones, up her slender neck, past her lips, and to her sultry, dazzling blue eyes. Her platinum blonde braid lying over her delicate shoulder and framing her face. ". . . beautiful." He instantly felt like a creep for ogling her. It had been quite some time since he had permitted himself to do such a thing, but her beauty had captivated him.

"And who are you?" Elsa ask sweetly, but suspiciously.

Jack almost fell over for the second time in the last sixty seconds. ". . . Y- . . . you can see me?" he asked.

A perplexed look covered Elsa's face. "Well, of course . . . why wouldn't I be able to?"

Jack was overwhelmed. He had only been seen before by other mythical creatures and some children, never by an adult, least of all a gorgeous creature like Elsa. Jack fist pumped and ran toward Elsa, taking her hand in his. "Do you know what this means!" It wasn't a question, for he was about to answer, but she shook her head and began stepping away from him anyways. "It means I can finally help you!"

Elsa pulled her hand from his. "Stay back, please, you don't know what you're talking about! I don't even know you! I'll bet you have hypothermia setting in, your hands are as cold as ice and without shoes-"

"No, Elsa, I'm fine. I'm like you, see." Jack lifted his staff and a wall of ice came up from the floor of the ice palace.

Elsa gasped and looked back at Jack. "How do you know my name?"

"Well, I have seen you many times before, I tried to help you, but you couldn't see me. Do you remember this?" Jack formed a clear ice window in the wall he had just made beside them and began to decorate it with the frost designs and ice sickles he used to use to try and cheer Elsa up.

"That was you? I always thought I was somehow doing it."

Jack smiled a little half smile. "Yeah, that's why I stopped."

"What's your name?"

"Jack Frost, your majesty." Jack playfully bowed to Elsa, who laughed for the first time in a very long time.

"Wait, you don't mean like. . ."

"Like the mythical Jack Frost that people tell their children about, yeah, that's me."

"But I never thought you were real."

"Most people don't. That's why they can't see me. You have magical powers Elsa, if that's real, think of all the possibilities. It's magic."

"I know but I never imagined that you . . . is that how I can see you now and not before, because I opened up to the magic?"

"Seems like it."

"But this doesn't explain why you are here."

"Well, I sensed_ this_ so I came to check it out." Jack gestured to what Elsa had done.

"Oh," Elsa sighed, "then you must also have seen Arendelle. My sister says it's in deep snow, because of _me_." And with that, Elsa's brief moment of happiness was gone.

"It's ok Elsa, I'm going to help you to fix it."

"But how? Can you unfreeze the city?"

"No, I can't, not something that large scale. My powers really don't work in reverse." Jack thought of how difficult it had been back when he tried to clean up after Elsa's ice mess. He had a heck of a time just moving that little amount of ice away to the outside where it could melt. There really wasn't a reverse for him. He had to wait for the sun to do that.

"Then what makes you think mine will?"

"Yours are different from mine; I don't know if they will or not, but who's to say no if you haven't tried it?"

"I don't know how, Jack. I will just have to wait for the sun to melt Arendelle."

"Under that much ice, it could be a really long time. You have to try Elsa."

"You're just like Anna! You don't understand! I can't! You don't even know me!" Ice and snow began swirling violently around Elsa as she brought her hands to her face in frustration.

Jack was shocked at just how out of control her powers were, and without any further hesitation, he leapt forward through the swirling snow and ice, towards the ice queen and grasped both of her wrists, one in each hand.

"Elsa! Look at me! Its ok, I'm sorry I upset you. Calm down!" Unlike other people Elsa had encountered, with exception of her stubborn, naïve, but loving sister, Jack didn't fear her or her powers or run away. He pulled her up so that she was standing straight up and looked into her eyes with calming compassion that she had never before encountered. Her powers calmed and the ice and snow stopped spinning around her. She took a few deep calming breaths and pulled her wrists from Jack's grasp as she stepped back shyly.

"I can't believe this," she breathed.

"Don't say that, I'll disappear," Jack retorted playfully, and gave a half smile. When she gave him an inquisitive look he continued with "when people don't believe in me they can't see me. Remember?"

Elsa nodded. She supposed it really wasn't that hard to believe if magic trolls were real, as well as her own powers.

"Thank you for trying to help, but you should go now." Elsa turned and began to ascend the stairs of the ice palace again. She was overwhelmed with the recent developments and needed time to herself.

"Wait, what? Why? I just got here. You want me to leave you here all alone? That sounds miserable." Jack ran after the snow Queen.

"I am used to being alone; it's what I prefer."

"No one prefers to be alone all the time." Jack was following her up the staircase.

"I do. It's best this way. Trust me."

Jack was done beating around the bush. He reached out and took Elsa's hand. She gasped and turned to face him. "Elsa I was alone for 128 years. Trust me, I know what being alone is like, and it's not all it's cracked up to be. Let me help you. I finally can."

-o-oOo-o-

**Please let me know what you think and if I should bother to continue. Reviews are highly appreciated and I usually respond to them, especially if you ask a question. **

**Thank you for reading! Please review!**

-engineergirl86

**P.S. to those of you who are following my Zutara stories, I haven't forgotten you. They are both just pretty plot heavy, and I don't have the spare time to think about them due to school. Please forgive me! I promise to work on both of them in May. ML AHS is almost finished. I think 5 or 6 more chapters only. **


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